Description: Twisted Sister (1984). Another day, another contract. Elle seeks out the marauding teen, Malin on a mission with a message. Thousands of miles from home, she finds that the little girl's got quite a bit of an arsenal herself. The young girl takes an early lead... and manages to hang onto it. Battered and beaten, Elle manages to limp away, but not before leaving a mess and a frustrated Malin behind.
Howdy mate! Throw another shrimp on the barbie!
One of the defining qualities of Australia is the incredible heat. One of the other ones, is the horrendous amount of insects out to kill you, your family, your loved ones, and then eat your little dog too. Malin has been suffering greatly from both these pests, but, such is the price she's had to pay. Following her mild nuisance in Southtown, and the defeat at the hands of Kyoko... and the fact /everyone/ and their mother seemed intent on making her go to /school/, she's decided to take off as far as she can. After all. It was never good to stay in one place for all that long, and the sheer amount of people gunning for her- literally or figuratively- meant that Southtown... well, it wasn't that friendly right now.
Besides, she'd need to be back around that area for Yurika's little thing, and so the more of a crazy trail she left, the less likely it was that someone wielding a Justice High uniform in one hand and a Southsynd Bounty in the other would burst in on her after she was recovering from a match.
Unfortunately. Australia is hot, and, as previously mentioned, full of horrible, horrible insects.
One of which has just been pinned to the door of her crappy motel bedroom with a knife. Malin's finances are a thing of inscrutable wonder, the nightmare of accountants the world over, but even they weren't limitless, and that meant cutting back a little. The thing she just killed has entirely too many feelers and legs, and far more in the way of mouth than any spider has the right to have.
Hopefully it isn't the motel owner.
Out here, in the middle of the barren Australian wasteland, however, she feels... safe. At least a little bit. Soon, hopefully, her neo league challenges against the local fighters would come back, and who knows, maybe she could even pick up a little cash. But for now... relaxation.
She sure would feel better if it weren't for that damned heat, though.
Sure. Safe.
And while we're headed in that direction, maybe the dingos won't eat your baby, either.
The problem is really that after you've pissed off a few people that have the ability to make some phone calls, there's really no place where you're actually 'safe', or even 'safer'. Instead, it's just a constant boiling mess of paranoia, conspiracy and cold, unforgiving reality. The one saving grace is that youth tends to take some of the impact out of it. Youth is spry, and can give way more before it breaks. And it's probably youth that has Malin feeling a little better, despite being surrounded by the world's deadliest insects.
But for Elle, who's 'old' by some fighter standards, there's no such leeway. There's no slack, no moment to rest or relax. It's just one situation after the next, an endless cavalcade of motion. It's a constant fight fromt he second she wakes up until she sleeps for the whole three to four hours she manages to eke out in 20 to 30 minute increments each night.
As a member of the 'phone call' group, Elle is constantly bombarded with work, especially in the wake of Geese's fall. It's one thing after another: offing gangsters, small town thugs and little pissants who have caused a lot of grief over the years. The jobs are quiet, safe... after all, nobody's around to raise a hue and cry over a few mutilated gangsters. But then someone calls her, offering her a reward to teach a lesson to someone a little left of normal.
Malin, a young girl, weapon user. Fast, with a wit as deadly as her knives. Someone with a long future ahead of her, unless she ends up dead. The message is pretty simple: harass anyone you want, just not the new ruler of Southtown's latest operations. So what's Elle's reaction to that?
The same reaction she always has.
And that's why, in the middle of nowhere on a lonely stretch of road in the middle of the Australian desert, Malin's door explodes inward, detonating with the force of a chi-enhanced kick as 135 pounds of battle-forged, scarred mercenary tears into the motel room like an angry elephant, twin katars drawn. Not one for conversation, her immediate concern is to find her target and viciously beat the tar out of her before delivering the message.
It's an MO she finds works more often than not. And if it's not broke, why fix it?
"HUGHK!"
Malin's rapier wit might just have abandoned her a little bit. But, then, it isn't every day that her -door- explodes. Youth does have the advantage in several ways, though. After all. One of the advantages is the ability to suddenly recover! When an angry mercenary makes your door explodes and bursts her way in wielding twin katars, there are remarkably few people in the world who know precisely how to react to this kind of situation. It just so happens... that Malin is one of them.
You know. After the initial terrified panic.
Malin is on her feet in an instant, putting the bed between herself and the woman who, apparently, had something against her poor door.
"You know." She says, carefully, her hands twirling for a moment before a pair of long, curved knives are grasped. "Those are some pretty cool looking toys!"
The girl winks, crouching a little, "I'm totally taking them after I kick your ass. They are gonna want /me/ to cover that door, you know!"
Ugh. One of the chatty types. Elle doesn't talk much normally. In fact, she can and prefers to go entire days without uttering a word. But everyone seems to like to chatter in fights. It's not really odd to Elle... just one of the things that will forever confuse her. Some people like to call it 'psychological warfare' or other nonsense. For her, it's just wasting brain cells when you should be using them for the purpose of not getting your face punched in.
This oddly isn't the first time she's fought a quick person in a small room. And for good reason: small spaces limit the places a person can hide, and notwithstanding the bed, Elle's got a pretty clear shot at her target.
The twin katars crackle with energy as she runs a current through them. With a sharp humming noise, she brings the weaponry down onto the bed. The burning smell and the crack of sliced wood fills the air as she plows /through/ the furniture with her left arm, and then hurls forward with her right. The crackling, snarlign electricity at the tip of the weapon shoots towards the young girl.
Clearly, Elle's not playing around as she attempts to drive the weapon into the girl's shoulder and reduce her ability to do much with those knives she's produced.
COMBATSYS: Elle has started a fight here.
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Elle 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Malin has joined the fight here.
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Malin 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Elle
COMBATSYS: Malin dodges Elle's Power Strike.
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Malin 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Elle
/WOW!/
Okay, so this person was serious. Somehow, that made it worse. After all, that meant she actually had to be vaguely worried about this. Rather than treating it like an opportunity to make another contact, or maybe try to talk her way out of it. The absolute lack of any flicker of amusement, or any sign that Elle had even /heard/ Malin was disturbing enough. Never mind the crazed lunge that makes her bed into so much matchwood.
Elle comes forwards, and Malin slips down. The girl slides underneath the place her bed had been, abandoning the knives as quickly as they had been brought out, instead, she goes for a different tactic. Elle might have sheared the bed into two smaller chunks, but that was going to play right into Malin's hands.
Suddenly, from underneath the bed, Malin comes lunging back up, leading with her feet, her aim is somewhat less direct than Elle's.
After all, half a bed, aside from being nice and... squishy, is also quite -large-. Rather than keep the fight penned up in her little motel room, Malin aims to smash her ruined furniture into the assassin, and crush her up against the window. This did, of course, put her rather closer to Elle than she would normally like. But, on the other hand, if it worked, and she could throw Elle out the window, then at least she could buy herself a few seconds to /think/.
COMBATSYS: Elle blocks Malin's Random Weapon.
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Malin 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Elle
Serious? That's a good way to describe the way that Elle handles herself. The mercenary tends to treat everything wit the same meticulous attention to detail, and usually with the same idea in mind each time: what do I need to do in order to get the best results? Admittedly, she knows little about Malin past her prodigous use of weaponry. She can respect that, but she's not going to talk shop when there's a job to do.
Arms cross in front of her instinctively as the feet rocket out from the wreckage of the bed. The heels of Malin's shoes crash into her forearms, which are mostly protected by heavy gauntlets. The sound of rubber soles ringing against metal can be heard as Elle is forced to back up... just not that far. It seems that she's a pretty solid opponent that's not really given to getting punched about all that easily.
Instead, boots grind against carpeted floor for the force. However, she's already preparing herself for her next attack. The mercenary's hands drop down to her waist without a second's thought, hand clamping around one of the many weapons in her arsenal. The flashbang grenade that she pulls out is hurled directly at Malin's chest. It it hits, it'll erupt in a powerful burst of noise and light calculated to blow Malin across the room, allowing Elle some time to determine how best to tackle the target.
COMBATSYS: Malin dodges Elle's Metal Health.
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Malin 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Elle
Unfortunately for Elle, Malin has been playing with grenades herself a lot, lately. The look on her face, however, is priceless. She proves to be disturbingly adept, however, jumping backwards, and closing her eyes as she tucks into a ball. The explosion bursts, and she is just out of range, rolling backwards to be on the safe side anyway. When she uncurls, she just looks /pissed/.
"Oh now come on. That's just /cheating/."
A little petulant, perhaps, but seriously! Who bursts into someone's room, trashes the place, and doesn't even give a word of warning about how doomed she is before unleashing screaming explosive doom? There are ways these things are done!
Now that it was pretty clear she wasn't going to get anywhere with that particular tactic, though, it was time to try and determine precisely how to deal with Ms. Crazy Grenade Thrower.
Malin's arm whips out, the now-empty doorway to her back. She reaches behind her back and draws one of the many small knives from about her person. Perfectly weighted, she aims to hurl the weapon forwards, and embed it in Elle's left leg. Her main concern being that, if she wasn't careful, she was going to wind up in arms reach of the -next- hideous trick.
COMBATSYS: Malin successfully hits Elle with Thrown Weapon.
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Malin 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Elle
If Elle gave a damn about convention, it sure doesn't show. Her focus is considerable, and she's not really big into dicussing whys and wherefores. Malin's mood, chatter, they get a once over, quickly combed through for any useful information. Finding none, Elle discards it as more dumb fight patter and keeps moving forward, wood splintering under her feet as she makes another approach.
This time, she's not fast enough to defend herself...or maybe she's just not really in the mood to do everything she can to block the incoming attack. Whatever the case may be, Elle sort of just... walks right into the blade, making only a cursory effort to get out of the way. The knife embeds itself into her thigh without issue. Without a second thought, Elle pulls the weapon out. She doesn't even seem to be bleeding all that heavily.
Instead a dark splotch shows up on her clothing as she charges the weapon with energy. The thin hum of the blade indicates that sonic chi has turned the weapon into vibrating edge, allowing her to cut into things with greater ease. This, unfortunately, tends to transelate into more damage which Elle seeks to inflict as she storms forward, attempting to jam the knife into Malin's collar, specifically that soft part between the neck and shoulder.
COMBATSYS: Malin dodges Elle's Chase the Ace.
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Malin 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Elle
"... Hardcore."
It's a pretty wondering statement, really. It isn't /normal/ for someone to just take that kind of stab and not even care. It's even rarer that Malin finds her own weapons used against her! She'd be lying if she said she wasn't a little bit intimidated. Malin, however, has no intention of backing down just yet. No, Elle might be pretty scary, but there's one place that she has a definite advantage.
Speed.
The girl simply leans backwards as the attack comes in for her. Though it threatens to slash across her front, the girl allows it to pass within inches. Tucking her hand into her pocket with a sneer. "Hell, grandma, you've got some cool tricks! Pity you are so slow, huh?"
The little thief doesn't look like she's running any more, though. Because now, she -has- to know. Just how screwed is she? Elle might be able to take a hit from a knife like that... but how would she stand up to a real threat?
The trouble with Malin's idea of a real threat, is that it doesn't immediately look like one. From her pocket, she suddenly hurls a yoyo forwards. It would be easy to discount this as the act of a truly disrespectful little arrogant youth. After all, what threat is a yoyo?
Of course, in reality, if the weapon can touch Elle, and it is flung directly at her gut, it will suddenly /spring/ out into a buzzing nightmare of ripping blades and buzzing edges, as she drives it along and up as much as possible.
COMBATSYS: Malin successfully hits Elle with Short Onigumo.
-**- LUNATIC HIT!! -**-
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Malin 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Elle
Well, this is new.
In her haste to take Malin down, it's pretty easy to see that Elle's not really quite fast enough to tag her with anything. So far, it's been one miss after another, and things just don't seem to be getting any better from here. The problem isn't that she's getting worn down, really. That's what happens in a lot of fights. The main issue here is that she's not going to get paid if she doesn't do her job... which means she's going to have to waste more time tracking this annoying little pissant down.
But that impatience on her part leads to a fatal flaw. Instead of treating the toy for what it actually is, Elle moves to just step by it again. As a result, the weapon hits her dead on, without any kind of defensive maneuvering. The weapon causes her eyes to widen. Pain is not a problem for Elle. She doesn't really care about it anymore. Hurts like hell, but what doesn't? The problem is that it keeps her from doing what she's supposed to do, and that's just not good for her.
The weapon rips and tears at her, the considerable armor the woman seems to be made of seems to offer nothing in the way of halting power, and she's forced to one knee, the weapon clattering aside as she's forced to place a hand over her gut to keep the bleeding from getting too bad.
It seems that age is definitely not providing her with the experience she needs to take down this girl. All she can do now is focus, ignore the inevitable barrage of taunts, and prepare herself for the next series of attacks.
COMBATSYS: Elle focuses on her next action.
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Malin 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Elle
Malin doesn't like that look.
She /knew/ that she hurt the woman. There was no real question there. Nobody could take a blow like that and -not- feel it. Better than that, though, she'd forced the woman back. She wasn't some inhuman monster against whom even her most serious efforts were for nothing. No, she knew Elle felt that. But. She's not backing down. That's just... -not- a good sign.
"Y'know." She says, conversationally, as she tucks the toy back in her pocket. "It's a pity. I bet if you were ten years younger, you might even have been able to keep up! I feel kinda bad, really. I don't like beating up old ladies, buuuuut... you -did- start it, and I'm willing to bet you've got a few more toys tucked up your sleeve--"
And suddenly she breaks off her little speech, lunging forwards, her arms are drawn over her head. From about her person, somehow, some way, she has produced a /huge/ sword, barely enough room to swing the thing without lodging it in the ceiling as she brings it in and around, aiming to just... slash it around on the woman in an overhead swing, and use the momentum to hurl herself across the room. If she didn't keep trying to take advantage of that speed of hers... her luck was going to run out. She'd learned enough about that in her past few fights.
COMBATSYS: Elle fails to interrupt Crushing Strike from Malin with Electric Funeral.
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Malin 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Elle
There's not much Elle /can/ do at this point. Normally, she's got a considerable amount of leeway, as her attacks tend to be devestating when they hit. The problem is, Malin's not holding still long enough for her to land anything. It's not even a matter of underestimation. Elle never does that. It's just that right here, right now, Elle's just been outclassed.
And there's no shame in that, as long as you learn from the experience and manage to survive.
Still recovering from the last attack, the slashing sword is met with only partial resistance. Her efforts to bring a response to bear is just too slow, too little, and too late. The weapon catches her on the shoulder as she lurches to slam the katar still clutched in her hand into Malin's chest, but to no avail. Instead, the smaller girl's weapon slices clean into her arm, sending her to the ground. The limb has been rendered next to useless.
This isn't good at all.
Still, there's something to be said about Elle. Despite the massive damage she's taken, she's still standing, and it's pretty clear at this point that it's time to determine if she's going to stay for another round of this punishment, or regroup. It's a cold calculation. Vendettas aren't Elle's style. The first and only matter on her mind is the fact that she's not going to be able to do this job, and that's the only thing that upsets her.
Malin keeps going, through the air, twisting, until her feet touch the ceiling. For a moment, she twists. She hadn't missed the attempt to hurt her, but, so far, she'd done pretty well at avoiding it. Good thing, too. The sheer determination- or at least the complete lack of any... indication as to /why/ this was happening, or any sign that she was going to back down- indicated that Elle was some kind of badass assassin. Malin was bright enough to know that the kind of people she pissed off on a near-daily basis weren't the kind of people who bothered explaining themselves before killing you. There was a hell of a lot more she stood to lose than to gain by slackening up for an instant.
So she doesn't. From her position, she uses the ceiling as a floor, pushing off quickly, and producing another long, curved blade- this time from her shoe. The slash comes down blindingly fast, aiming to stab deep into Elle's shoulder, before she leaps backwards again. There's no mocking words, though, not right now- she was starting to feel the burn just a little bit, so, it was much easier to just /smirk/.
And ~wink~.
COMBATSYS: Elle blocks Malin's Descending Suzume Bachi.
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Malin 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Elle
Instead of trying anything fancy, Elle sets down to basics. Right now, Malin had her on the ropes, and with very little left in to fight back with, Elle's forced to raise up an arm and bat the weapon aside. It's times like these, when she doesn't have many options to work with, that Elle finds herself concerned. The fact of the matter is, she likes to have tools to play with. The more avenues at her disposal, the more comfortable she is, and Malin has pretty much robbed her of almost everything she had.
Live and learn, though. Elle rarely makes the same mistake twice.
That being said, she only has one real means of defense here, and that's by launching another attack that will hopefully put her on a more even keel with Malin. With the flick of her wrist, the woman deploys what looks like a mace. The weapon's wicked, clawed head is whipped about to meet the girl.
If it hits, the result won't be pleasant at all.
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Malin with Black Sabbath.
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Malin 1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Elle
The weapon's claws clamps down like a vice on Malin's shoulder, launching from the pommel like a rocket to hurl Malin outside, a long chain trailing after it as it goes. Elle follows suit, chasing after the weapon's launch so that she has room to maneuver the attack. Once there, Elle snaps the weapon like a whip. The chain sounds out, rattling through the air as the weapon releases in midair.
As Malin's body arcs through the air, Elle draws a .45 caliber pistol. While guns aren't necessarily a normal part of a fighter's arsenal, Elle's managed to turn them into something slightly more useful than most people would expect.
The bullets thunder through the air, the special payloads dissolving the bullet casing on the way up. As a result, what hits Malin isn't a series of bullets, but full force sonic bursts that hammer the girl in midair like a clay pigeon before she's allowed to plummet to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Malin does her level best to turn the weapon aside, her blade coming up, but, she's just a fraction of a second too slow. The clamp fastens hard on her shoulder, and she lets out a rather... horrified noise.
"Oh damn--"
And then she's being tossed around and beaten like, well, a rag doll. The 'bullets' are pretty bad, the general squeezing pain enough to knock some of the wind out of her sails. It had all been going so well! Not... any more, however.
She's not down yet, though, and she'd be damned if she'd give in already!
In a sudden blur, Malin flips up from her downed position on the floor, coming down as fast as she can to draw the blade down across Elle's torso in a diagonal slash--!
COMBATSYS: Malin successfully hits Elle with Jou'ou Bachi.
?!? Weird Hit! ?!?
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Malin 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Elle
The force of the blow sends Elle down, and Malin is suddenly -beyond- fast.
The small confines of the room actually assist her in this, bouncing like some kind of horrific bladed pinball, she slashes from every conceivable angle, seeming to be everywhere at once, until, drawing the same sword she had used earlier from behind her, she hovers in front of Elle--
And smacks her back into the ground.
Following this blistering display, Malin lands on what was once a bedside cabinet, now, a wooden box, cracked and broken.
She twirls the sword, holding it ready, before she speaks up.
"If you've got a brain in that head of yours, you'll stay down! Come on, lady. I'm /Malin/." She hehs, straightening up just a touch. "You really want me to get mad? I might stop going /easy/ on you!"
Let's step back and take a look at the situation.
Elle's pretty much lost this fight for all intents and purposes. From the second she initiated combat, Malin has been able to avoid her assaults, has taken her by surprise, and pretty much altogether managed to move too quick for Elle to manage to land anything of note except for her last attack. It's a sobering moment for Elle. Given what she's forced to do for the most part, it doesn't put her in the direct line of fire very often.
Killing normal people isn't a problem. It's the powered types that tend to push her back. Despite whatever strength and experience she may have, ever so often, she's faced with an opponent that's a little too much for her to handle. And this happens to be one of those cases.
At least, this time around.
A smile cracks her face. Malin's got bravado, that's for sure. But 'going easy'? By Elle's count, Malin's done nothing of the sort. A maneuver like the one she just pulled off isn't a simple punch or a kick. That takes a lot of doing.
Malin's noise blows by her as Elle takes stock of what she has available and what Malin's got available, and finds that she's too far behind to really continue this fight. The damage to her midsection and arm is just too severe. Still, she doesn't need to talk. She could just leave, and it's something she considers doing. But she doesn't.
"You beat me," she says, matter of factly. "You win. Let's just get that clear. But set the record straight: you surprised me, and all the damage you managed to do still hasn't put me down yet. You didn't make any mistakes today. I did. So let's be clear on this." The ground beneath Elle begins to shudder, tremble and shakes as she seems to draw energy straight from the ground.
"You'd better never go easy on anyone ever again, because I've got a lot more room to make mistakes than you do. You need all of mine. All I need from you is one or two." The ground cracks, and electricity seems to pour out from the ground. It doesn't heal her at all, but it does seem to 'recharge' her batteries somewhat. She spreads her arms, the weapons at her hands seeming to retract into her sleeves.
She doesn't say anything else. Instead, she just looks at Malin, as if daring her to attack.
COMBATSYS: Elle gains composure.
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Malin 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Elle
For a long moment, Malin is silent. She narrows her eyes, and seems to genuinely consider all the available options here.
"... So that's what you think?"
Malin smirks, and shakes her head slowly. Straightening herself up, she rolls her shoulder back lightly, "Look, lady." She says, easily. "I'm /Malin/. The people who are backing me? You think they hire people who make mistakes? Look. You want to throw down again, I'll kick your ass. Anywhere. Any time. The showing you've put on today? I could do it with one arm tied behind my back."
Yawning, she drops the sword, hopping down off the dresser. "Honestly, if you think anything else, you are stupid as well as weak. Seriously."
Then she snaps her fingers, and straightens herself up, a set of throwing knives suddenly in that hand, which she positions between herself and Elle. The other hand moving to behind her back, and a cheeky smirk on her features.
"So, I'm going to offer you a choice." She says, brightly. "Either, I play 'How many knives can I stick in the bitch who trashed my bed', or you are gonna start talking a bit more, alright? I wanna know who it is who sent you after me, and I wanna know how much you are getting paid to do it."
That grin really is maddening, and it entirely refuses to budge, as the cocky girls eyes glint.
"So, come on. Looks like you found your voice, so, spill your guts... or spill your /guts/. Your choice!"
COMBATSYS: Malin focuses on her next action.
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Malin 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Elle
...and Malin promptly sinks herself.
How?
Let's count.
1) If someone is backing you, you don't talk about it.
2) If you're a professional, you never ask 'who hired you and how much are they paying?'
3) If you're in a position of strength, you don't ever stop attacking, and four? Well, that's the most important one.
4) You don't play this game with Elle.
The smile doesn't change her expression. Elle doesn't get 'mad'. Not because she doesn't want to. Not because she's in total control of that emotion. It's because she's completely incapable of it. The answer is pretty simple. it comes in two steps, now that Elle has an idea as to how this is going to go down. She reaches down, stepping backward with something in her hand. It's small, metallic, about the size of a test tube, and Elle quickly bites off the end, tossing it to the floor. A clear liquid spills out onto the carpet, and Elle flicks a finger, just a spark of electricity, after it.
The carpet immediately bursts into flames.
It's not an attack, though. That's pretty clear. The reason for the action is pretty simple: it's a remote area, and the only shelter around is now promptly on fire as Elle decides to back away. Not enough to really /flee/. But now that it's come down to this, she's going to have to play this in a way that causes a whole lot more collateral damage. The fire doesn't won't but a second to cause people to flee from the building as Elle backs up more into the row of five cars still out front.
She slams her hands down onto the hoods of two of them, and the woman seems to draw electricity straight from the vehicles. Power flows from the cars as their lights and horn fire off, glowing and screeching before the burn out. it serves a dual effect, causing people to take notice, to see the flames and the crackling power charging Elle up even more.
She pulls her hands away, snapping licks of electriclty flowing into her fingertips. "Three cars, maybe a dozen people. Joint's on fire," she says calmly. "Even if someone makes the phone, the nearest police station's got to be 150 kilometers out. Let's see what kind of pro you are," she says, her dry, rasping voice giving no indication that she's bluffing as she raises a pistol from it's holster. If Malin's a pro, then she'll secure her advantage and attack Elle despite the fact that the woman may pop the heads off a few of the people retreating from the building.
If she's not...
Then Elle is still going to start taking potshots at the people who are leaving the building.
COMBATSYS: Elle gathers her will.
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Malin 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Elle
...
Okay, Malin is officially horrified.
Sure, she had few illusions about the kind of people she was needling, the kind of depths they'd sink to. But this? This crossed a /line/. Malin didn't even know there was a line there to be crossed until it happens, but, then it does, and suddenly her motel is on fire and people are running and screaming and this crazy bitch is trashing cars and pulling /guns/?!
"... Oh you can /NOT/ be serious!"
So, Malin isn't a professional. Given her age this should not really be that much of a surprise. Her response, however, is quick and unequivocal. There's no way in hell that she's letting Elle get away with this!
In an instant, she is coming up on the woman hard, the sword abandoned; far too unwieldy, instead, she grunts, and lashes out with that familiar toy. Advancing as much as she can, however, to put her own body in the way of the bullets. Malin might be a lot of things, but she couldn't look herself in the mirror if she just stood by and let a few normal people take bullets because of her yap.
The toy shears out, the yoyo aiming to smack the gun wild, but, more than that, as Malin hurls herself forwards, the blades spring out and lead the way, tracing a slashing, twisting pattern out, and all around her. There's no real concern for her own safety any more. Sure, she was probably going to get hurt finishing off this job, but that was her own damn silly fault. Priority number one is to ensure nobody else suffers for her stupid mistake.
COMBATSYS: Malin successfully hits Elle with Short Onigumo.
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Malin 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Elle
The gun is hit! It spins from Elle's grasp! People are saved!
Yeah. That would be the cheer if not for the fact that Elle's managed to regain some amount of use in her other arm. Well, that, and the fact that she's ambidextrous. Certainly, she favors her left hand for writing and using the TV remote, but when it comes to shooting, it's more than capable of giving Elle what she needs.
And so it starts.
The hand with a gun starts aiming, the staccato reports of bullets tearing through the air filling the air as Elle lurches about. It doesn't matter now to have good aim because all she needs to do is wound one, which is a simple enough task. The other free hand isn't a threat because Elleis disarmed, though.
Except not really.
As Malin approaches, Elle raises a hand and snaps her fingers. The sonic shockwave doesn't have any force to it. What it does is emit a sharp, peircing shriek that only slows down people around her, causing ears to bleed and the younger patrons of the motel to collapse from pain. It's amazing what kind of filthy tricks you start to think up when you spend more time studying and less time boasting.
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Malin with Wrathchild.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////// ]
Malin 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Elle
Malin doesn't even /try/ to get out of the way, or make any effort to counteract the onrush of energy.
In retrospect, this may be considered a mistake.
Entirely unprepared for the energy, Malin stumbles. Her stride broken, she is forced, briefly, to one knee. A trickle of blood running from her nose as the whole world swims around her. Though she was loathe to admit it, she was starting to lose her cool. She could barely see straight, and her breath was suddenly coming much harder.
"... gonna /kill/ you!"
And as suddenly as that, she's lunging again. There's no subtly in it any more, she was hurting, and her body was starting to give out on her. If she didn't finish this, and finish it quick, she was going to cost some people their lives. That just isn't something Malin is willing to have on her conscience.
The blade comes out of nowhere, a single, glittering arc. Malin had better pray it hits, because if it doesn't, Elle might yet be able to turn this entire disaster around. Which would be quite the lesson for the poor thief, wouldn't it?
COMBATSYS: Malin successfully hits Elle with Suzume Bachi.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Malin 0/-------/-======|=======\==-----\1 Elle
Looks like all the luck is with Malin today, doesn't it? The girl rushes in, andthe jabbing knife tears into her. The hit is nothing special. It barely would have registered with Elle, much like the throwing knife earlier in the fight. it's just that as this juncture, Elle's just not in any shape to take any more damage. As the shallow slash cuts across the lower part of her neck, Elle jerks back and loses her footing, slamming to one knee.
But Elle's got one last card to play.
The gun is still clutched in her hand, and she looks up at Malin, shaking her head. "Now's a good as time as any to tell you," she says, her cold voice rasping as she raises the weapon. "There's a new interest in Southtown that would rather that you started picking on other targets. So I'd think long and hard before I made any steps in Southtown for a while."
The weapon takes aim at the girl, and suddenly Elle's laying down firepower like a flak cannon. Electrical blasts of energy fill the air, blasting the building, cars, anyone that might be in the way gets a full force blast of chi. Running isn't an option here, because there's frankly nowhere to run right now. She couldn't get too far, considering her wounds anyway. The best bet?
Bank on taking Malin down too, if at all possible, and hijacking the police car and/or ambulance that arrives in the interim.
COMBATSYS: Elle can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Malin 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Elle successfully hits Malin with ACDC.
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Malin 1/-----==/=======|
That's a lot of energy!
Malin does her best to get out of the way, dodging, ducking, and weaving as much as is possible. After all, there was no real way for her to protect everyone. Better that she get out okay and then look at the damage that was done afterwards. The storm of energy, however, proves to be too much. She's left burned and battered, feeling the effects of the fight... even if, in the final count, she was still the victor.
The -disgust- on her face, though. As she looks at the amount of carnage that has been wrought to this poor little place in the middle of nowhere, is evident. Some bastard wanted to keep her out of Southtown, and wanted to send people like -this- after her to make the message heard?
"Kiss my ass." She spits, "You go back to your boss, and you tell him I'm going to make him my /number one/ target. I'm going to Southtown, and I'm going to hunt out every single bit of shady activity I can, and I'm going to drag it into the daylight, if I can't crush it myself."
She snorts, obviously angry with the result of this encounter, "If I were you, I'd find a new boss. 'cuz buy the time I'm done with this joker, he's not going to have a cent to his name. Sending people like /you/ after me. Who the hell does he think he's dealing with here?!"
COMBATSYS: Malin has ended the fight here.
Ah, the belligerance of youth.
The woman doesn't respond immediately. She's got little impetus to, after all. Shooting off her mouth is what got Malin into this in the first place, and it seems that she doesn't learn every well, if at all. Still, the fact remains that the victor of the fight was Malin. Elle couldn't do much more to shut the girl up even if she wanted to. But she doesn't.
The reason why is simple: the loudest one is always the one that draws the most suspicion.
Technically, the job is done. But only technically. Malin hasn't been defeated... just wounded enough so that she can't really go gallavanting around for the immediate moment. The message has been delivered. It's a mixed result, and Elle knows it. She gets to her feet slowly. There's a lot of damage here, and not much around with which to fix it.
"No idea," Elle eventually says with a shrug as she walks towards the lone remaining vehicle, smashing the window with a small hook that pops from the wrist of her gauntlet. The alarm goes off, and Elle places a hand on the dash, shorting it and turning over the engine. "But based on how this place looks? Someone that doesn't have any idea herself."
She slides into the seat as she gets into the vehicle, covering the interior with her blood. She'll have to burn the vehicle before she gets near any towns. That'll be a hassle. Malin could stop her. Elle's in really no condition to fight anything of, nor does she look like she's got any new tricks to pull. But absent anyone stopping her, she's going to take off.
Because it's not like Elle has any wounded people to take care of or phones calls to make to the police, hospital, and yes, the fire department. The motel hasn't stopped burning, after all.
Log created on 11:33:38 06/20/2009 by Elle, and last modified on 20:42:53 06/20/2009.